Ensalada de Garbanzos – chickpea salad

know you pitmasters love cooking on fire as much as I do. Yet when it comes to sides I often seem to grab at the same known recipes to serve along my grilled meat. Maybe you experience the same. This delicous “Ensalada de Garbanzos con Chorizo y Pimientos del Piquillo” made me realize I need to do more sides like these. They are easy to make and taste fantastic. I’m quite sure you’ll love it too!

Ensalada de Garbanzos

I found this recipe on a wonderfull dutch foodblog “bijzonderspaans” (specially spanish) focussing on spanish recipes. Even if you don’t understand our language you’ll need to take a look! It’s packed with awesome food photography and delicious recipes. The Ensalada de Garbanzos is one of them. Actually I have to admit I wasn’t a big fan of chickpeas up till now. Every once a while I try to test my limits making recipes with ingredients I don’t fancy much. I often find out that the right combination of flavors convinces me to love the product. The Ensalada de Garbanzos contains two of my favorite ingredients. Being chorizo and “Pimientes del Pequillo“. If you like making things from scratch you might want to pimp this chickpea salad with homemade chorizo like I did before. This time however I lacked the time to do so and bought one in the stores.

Pimientes del Piquillo

Pimientes del Piquillo is a traditional very flavorful and easy to make spanish sidedish. Actually it’s not much more than charred red bell pepper. When blackening the sweet bell pepper you’ll be changing the taste. The bell pepper get’s a deep sweet taste with subtle roasty notes. It’s one of the easiest recipes I know but those are often the best. You can buy them canned, yet I prefer to make them myself. They are often served with goat cheese and sprinkled with parsley and olive oil. Yet they taste awesome in stews or salads too! Actually this Ensalada de Garbanzos wouldn’t be the same without them. It would lack the deep sweet roasted flavor of the Bell Peppers.

Preparation

This sidedish taste fabulous with grilled meat. So why not preparing it on the grill? All you need is a decent large cast iron pan (or two smaller ones). I’ve made them while I grilling the “Pluma Iberico” that I will share later on. You can put the cast iron pan on top of the grid while cooking the other ingredients and roasting the bell pepper. I love using the sweet bell pepper for this. As you might notice it’s not that difficult to make this sidedish. You can even burn the peppers without failing.

How about you? Would you love to try this as a side? Or do you know something similar I need to try? Please take a moment to let me know. I would love to read about it on facebook or instagram. You can find the links to my social media accounts on top of this blogpost. Oh and don’t forget to share! Cause sharing is caring!!

Ensalada de Garbanzos is a traditional spannish recipe combining some of my favorite flavors. Especially the Chorizo and Pimientos del Piquillo (Roasted sweet bell peppers) are ingredients to fall in love with. This delicious salad can be served hot or cold and goes well along some grilled meat! Enjoy!

Add the canned chickpeas to a strainer to drain the excess liquid from the can. Do this above the sink while rinsing them under cold running water.

Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a cast iron pan and add the sliced chorizo. Wait a couple of minutes until you notice the chorizo starts losing it's flavorful.

Add the chopped onions and garlic and let the onions brown slightly.

Meanwhile you put the bell peppers on top of the grid directly above the fire. Let them sit until the skin blackens. Don't worry it's getting burned. Let them cool down afterwards and remove the peel. You'll notice your sweet bell pepper has a delicious roasted sweetness that's unbeatable. These are also called Pimientos del Piquillo and are delicious with goat cheese. (If you don't like to make them yourself for some reason you can buy them here)

Add the chickpeas to the cast iron pan. Add the sweet bell pepper slices and the sherry vinegar. Stir the ingredients and add salt, pepper and more vinegar to taste. Let cook for another 10 minutes.

You can serve this meal warm or on room temperature as long as you don't forget to sprinkle some fresh parsley on top of it to finish it off

FULL DISCLOSURE

With my blog I try to share some passion. Some times I get some test products by passionate people or make use of affiliate links to cope with the costs. By buying through these links I earn a small commision without costs for you! All opinions shared are my own and no false statements will be made!
For the Coke Brined Pulled Pork:
- There are affiliate links on the chorizo, canned pimientos del piquillo and the cast iron pan.